Kewanee and Wethersfield continued their winning ways Friday night, with the Boilers earning a big 58-56 Three Rivers Conference win over Sterling Newman and the Flying Geese pulling away from Williamsfield 81-63 to remain undefeated on the season.

Kewanee 58,

Sterling Newman 56

Kewanee and Newman entered Friday night’s TRAC-9 contest at Brockman Gym with 2-0 records, and it was Boilers making the big plays late to emerge with the win.

“Our locker room is pretty excited. We knew it was a big week. That’s a huge win for us in conference,” said Kewanee coach Steve Salisbury.

The Boilers were rolling offensively in the opening half, building a 21-13 lead at the quarter and extending the bulge to 36-25 at the half.

The Comets battled back in the second half and took the lead 51-49 with just under five minutes to play.

Two minutes ticked off the clock before Kewanee’s Matt Gustafson made a pair of free throws to tie the game 51-all.

It was nearly two more minutes before the game’s next score — a putback on the offensive glass by Dalton Nuding with 1:08 remaining — to give the Boilers a 53-51 lead. Nuding scored again with 28 seconds remaining on a nifty dish from David Washburn to make it 55-51.

After a Newman bucket, John Moraski knocked down a pair of clutch free throws with 11.4 seconds to play to make it a two-possession game again, 57-53. It was Moraski’s first action of the night.

“I said to him on the bench that I might have to put him in because he’s one of our better free-throw shooters,” said Salisbury. “He said, ‘Put me in and I’ll make them both.’”

Newman coaxed a foul on a 3-point attempt out of the Boilers with 6.7 remaining and A.J. Sharp made all three tosses to pull the Comets to within 57-56.

Gustafson made the first of two free throws with 3.4 seconds left on the clock, and Newman’s desperation three for the win was off the mark at the buzzer.

“We made the plays at the end of the game when we needed to,” said Salisbury. “We battled through a little adversity. The game got pretty physical there and a couple of calls didn’t go our way, but we battled through it.”

Much like last Friday’s win over Morrison, Nuding delivered the key points for the Boilers down the stretch.

“I don’t know how he’s getting it done down there sometimes, but Dalton’s been huge for us down low,” said Salisbury.

Page 2 of 3 - Newman’s defense held Kewanee’s leading scorer Dayton Ince to seven points, but Gustafson stepped up with a game-high 19 points.

“They were face-guarding Dayton and Matt rose to the occasion tonight,” said Salisbury.

Nuding and Donovan Oliver added 10 points each for the Boilers.

In the sophomore opener, Newman slipped past the Riveters 48-46.

Denzel Davenport paced Kewanee with nine points, followed by Kentrel Welcome with eight.

The Riveters are 3-4 overall and 2-1 in conference.

Wethersfield 81,

Williamsfield 63

Trevor Lay scored 19 points to lead a balanced Wethersfield scoring attack in Friday night’s fast-paced game in the WHS gym.

Javonte Hollowell came off the bench to add 18 points for the Geese, followed by Matt Jenkins with 17 and Kegan Jacobson with 10 as the hosts pulled away in the second half.

“I told Coach (Matt) Clark that we’re going to win a lot of ballgames if we get 16 to 18 points from four or five guys,” said Wethersfield coach Jeff Parsons, who was especially pleased with Hollowell’s effort.

“I think Javonte took some huge steps tonight,” said Parsons. “He’s not where I need him to be yet, but he really showed up tonight and played well. I think he’s starting to figure out what we want from him.”

Williamsfield threw some junk defenses at the Geese and hung with the hosts in the opening half. The game was tied 27-all in the second quarter when Jenkins scored five quick points on one of his five 3-pointers followed by a pull-up jumper.

Zach VanWassenhove drilled a 3-pointer at the halftime buzzer to send the Geese into the locker room on top 37-31.

The Bombers held Lay to two points in the first half, but his teammates more than picked up the scoring slack.

“Trevor did a good job of finding his teammates and just playing basketball,” said Parsons. “You’d probably laugh at our halftime adjustment, but it was ‘Guys, just play basketball.’ There’s no perfect Xs and Os against that stuff, you just have to play basketball.”

Lay shed his No. 1 jersey and halftime due to some blood on it, and donned No. 33 in the second half. He riddled the Bombers for 17 points in the final two quarters.

“He may not give up 33,” said Parsons.

“Our defensive effort hasn’t been where I want it to be and we’re really going to work on that,” added Parsons. “Overall, it was a great team effort and great balance.”

Wethersfield won the fresh-soph opener 71-52, and will play for the championship of the Galva Booster Club Tournament at 1:45 p.m. today against Sherrard.

Page 3 of 3 - Tournaments tip Monday

A pair of boys high school basketball tournaments tip Monday night — Hall’s Colmone Classic and the Ridgewood-ROWVA Classic.

Colmone Classic — Stark County and Bureau Valley are part of the eight-team field at Spring Valley.